The fascination of contemplating futuristic technological developments associated with such things as space exploration has long been prevalent with fiction writers and their followers of all ages. Many such writers have often described the use of fictitious "space-age" laser or "ray" guns used in interplanatory or "cosmic" combat and attempts have been made to simulate such weapons for those who wish to act out their futuristic fantasies. The problem has been to provide a gun-like toy device with sufficient realism and also one capable of producing a variety of visual and audio effects. In prior art toy gun devices, as shown in U.S. Letters Pat. Nos. 2,734,310, 2,783,588, for example, the broad concept of guns producing both light and sound are disclosed. Other U.S. Letters Pat., such as Nos. 2,208,313, 3,220,732, 3,294,401 and 3,531,890 show toy devices including guns and means for producing light and sound, and finally the U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,491 shows a toy having a transistorized noise generator in which the pitch can be varied. However, none of the aforesaid patents disclose a toy gun capable of producing a selectable variety of different sound and light effects that are characteristic of such space age weapons.
It is therefore one general object of the invention to provide a toy gun-like device that overcomes the limitations of prior devices and provides a multi-mode toy gun on which various modes of sound can be preselected and produced when the device is triggered.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toy gun capable of producing a plurality of different preselected sounds in combination with light elements and yet one wherein all electronic components can be contained within the gun body and handle.
Another object of the invention is to provide a toy "space" gun capable of producing in one mode a high pitched continuously warbling vibrato sound in combination with flashing lights and in another mode a short sound blast which simulates a single shot or bolt of energy each time the trigger is activated.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a toy "space-age" gun that is easy to operate to provide a variety of different combinations of sound and light pulses to simulate its use and yet one which can be manufactured from standard electronic components packaged within the gun housing.